Many of the Confederacy's supplies had to be obtained from European
sources. In the fall of 1862, when this fifty-cent note was first issued,
the full effects of the Union 's growing naval power had not yet been
felt. However, by 1864 the delivery of foreign goods to the South became
desperate and dependent on a dwindling number of Confederate
blockade-runners. Loaded with their European cargoes, swift sailing ships
similar to the type depicted on this note had to dash through or "run" the
Union navy's ever-tightening blockade of southern ports, including the one
at Wilmington, N.C.